


Stolen Hearts (And Jewels)

by Floople_Doople, Mimmininnin



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Crack, Enemies to Friends to Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fake Names, I'm tagging the CO creator so I can't take all the blame for this, M/M, This is jus 8k words of narrative hot potato, for the love of god don't take this seriously, writing game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2020-06-28 00:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19800559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floople_Doople/pseuds/Floople_Doople, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mimmininnin/pseuds/Mimmininnin
Summary: The Nohrian Siblings are thieves bent on stealing the the Hosidan Family's fortune. The Hoshidan family is set to catch them once and for all.(A dumb writing game I did with Floople in 7th Grade almost exclusively written after midnight. Rules detailed inside)





	Stolen Hearts (And Jewels)

**Author's Note:**

> Rules:   
> Alternate authors after every section-ish. No communication about where the plot is going is allowed  
>    
> Listen to our live read/ running commentary here:  
> https://tinyurl.com/stolenheartsandjewelsreading

Elise laughed as she ran through the halls of the Hoshido palace as the one with long silver hair chased her, screaming something angrily.

Meanwhile, in a separate part of the castle, the eldest of the group, Xander, was being chased by a pegasus knight, still managing to stay ahead of her on foot.

In yet another part of the castle, Camilla was trying her best not to laugh as the youngest, a pink-haired girl tried to run after her. 

Outside the castle, managing to escape the chase the oldest of the nobles, was Leo, carrying the treasure they decided to steal this time. Leo was trying his best not to scream, due to the fact that a giant lobster-sorry, the eldest prince was running after him.

However, as always, the four siblings managed to get away without a scratch on them. Of course the Hoshidan siblings were pretty angry!

“That’s the fourth time this year, and it’s only February!” Hinoka exclaimed, as angry as the color of her hair. 

The eldest, Ryoma, was nearly as red as his armor with how angry he was, but he managed to come up with a plan that just might catch these crooks.

“I propose that we set up a trap of sorts.” Ryoma said, trying (trying) to calm himself. “They like jewels and shiny things? Let’s just sacrifice some trinkets.”

Takumi, the third eldest sibling, was somewhat against the idea.

“These crooks are no amateurs, Ryoma. We won’t be able to fool them with such a blatant trap.” Takumi informed his reckless older brother. 

“Well, that’s the best we’ve got Takumi. Unless you have any better ideas.” Hinoka pointed out.

Sakura had been quiet the whole time. “Uh.. um…” she timidly spoke up.. “W-Why don’t we… join them? L-like! Pretend to be thieves and join their group!”

Everyone stared at Sakura, causing the young princess to turn a pale pink in embarrassment.

“That’s actually not a half-bad idea…” Ryoma mused. “But they’ve seen us enough times to know we’re us. Not to mention, how would we even FIND them to join them?”

Sakura was silent for a moment before speaking up again. “W-well...maybe a disguise? I mean….Takumi’s got a-an easy d-disguise already…”

“What’s that supposed to mean!” Takumi exclaimed, startling his sister.

“W-well….um...R-Ryoma, remember when you first saw T-Takumi with his hair down? Y-You actually thought he w-was a completely d-different person!” She stammered nervously.

“Hm… but what about the rest of us?” Hinoka asked. “Ryoma won’t look that different with his hair up and I have bright red hair for god’s sake!”

“I-I thought about that a-and um...Hinoka, you c-could dye your hair, and R-Ryoma could j-just...um….maybe straighten out his h-hair and tie it up?” Sakura gulped.

“Yeah, I think that could work…” Takumi concurred. “Let’s continue this talk tomorrow before any of us,” he looks to Ryoma “does something drastic.”

Ryoma rolled his eyes, grumbling how it was only the ONE time that Takumi refused to forget.

The siblings went to their respective quarters and slept on the idea of joining the thieves. 

The next morning they gathered once more, ready to continue the discussion of whether or not they should join the thieves(Takumi seemed surprised Ryoma hadn’t already run off).

“Alright, so I don’t know about any of you, but I’m all for this idea!” Ryoma exclaimed. 

Takumi sighed, whether in annoyance or frustration, no one knew which. “Of course you’re the one up for the idea.” He said.

“I think this could go okay… and If it doesn’t work out then? What the hell right?” Hinoka said. 

Sakura nodded in agreement, looking at Takumi with eyes that said, “Please just go with it.”

Takumi just sighed. How could he resist? “Fine. Anyway, I found some Nohrian cloth on the floor of the crime scene, so I think that gives us a clue at least…”

Ryoma smiled and patted him on the back. “Great! Now all that’s left is to change into our disguises and find those thieves!” He exclaimed.

“That’ll probably be the hardest part…” Hinoka mumbled.

“What? Finding the thieves or getting into our disguises?” Sakura questioned quietly.

“I meant finding them,” Hinoka laughed. “But knowing you, you’ll try to put everything on over your swordmaster uniform. That’d be difficult for sure.”

Takumi stifled a laugh, causing it to sound like some kind of snort while Ryoma huffed. “Look, that was the ONE time okay?”

“S-so it’s decided then!” Sakura exclaimed. “I-I’ll go get Oboro! She probably knows all about Nohrian fashion and all that!”

Takumi mumbled something along the lines of “sure, let’s go with that,” as Sakura ran off to go get Oboro.

The rest of the day was filled with fixing their appearances and finding people to be in the siblings’ place while they’re gone. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that hard(it was just hard getting them to look the part).

The next day they set out for the red lights district in the next town over, their best bet as to where they were. 

They looked completely different(except for Takumi, who’s main difference was that he had his hair down and he was wearing a dress, against his many protests).

“Perfect!” Ryoma exclaimed as they made their way to the town. It took them longer than expected to get there, since they didn’t bring their horses. “Let’s just book a room at a hotel here in the central part of the city for tonight.”

“Well, we got to go find a hotel first, don’t you think?” Hinoka said, looking at him.

“That shouldn’t be too hard!” Ryoma stated. He was very, very wrong. None of the inns wanted this group of people who looked like thieves, to cause trouble in their home. 

“Famous last words Ryoma. Or, ‘Ryouma’? Seriously? That is all you could come up with?” Takumi said, shaking his head in disapproval.`

Ryoma shrugged. “Its better than than Hinoka’s, or should I say ‘Hitoka’.” 

Sakura, or now, Blossom, chuckled nervously. “B-But what about your n-name Takumi?”

“I was torn between ‘Yuu’ and ‘Mi’, I couldn’t think of any girl names…”

Hinoka only sighed. “You gave yourself the name Yumi. Yumi...of all names YUMI.”

“Better than just adding a ‘U’.”

“Well at least I didn’t name myself after a BOW, of all things.” 

“Hey, I said i was either ‘Yuu’ or ‘Mi’! Not ‘Yumi’.”

Sakura simply shook her head, while Hinoka sighed. “Out of us all, I think Sakura is the only one with a decent name.”

Sakura blushed. “W-well, I think we should figure out some sort of sleeping situation for the time being.”

“Yeah, probably. Think maybe we should just sleep outside at this point?” Takumi said.

“Yeah,” Ryoma said gravely. “I think it’s pointless at this point, and as time goes on we’ll just look more suspicious later at night.”

Hinoka looked around. “Before we go, should we at least try to look for those thieves, or should we wait until morning?”

Sakura yawned. Ryoma frowned. “I think we’re all kinda worn out from the traveling, let's do it tomorrow.”

Takumi nodded. “Yeah, question is, where outside should we sleep?”

They couldn’t be out in the public, nor could they stay in an alleyway… this was a complicated question. 

As they thought about it, none of them noticed the figure looming behind them.

“Hey Hey!” The figure, or revealed to be girl, greeted. “If you’re looking for a place to stay, you could stay at my family’s restaurant! You’ll still be stuck on the ground, but at least you don’t have to worry about thieves!”

Sakura smiled politely at her. “Oh, thank you so m-much! A-Are you sure it’s okay?”

The girl shrugged. “I doubt Cameron would say no to someone in need… And she’s pretty much the head of the house!” She smiled. 

Takumi smiled as well. “Well, that’s really kind of you,” he said, in a soft voice in an attempt to resemble a girl.

The girl, whom Ryoma found familiar in a way he couldn’t figure out, lead them down the road, not too far off from where they already were. Sakura was walking next to the other girl, trying to make a small conversation in an attempt to be friendly.

When they got to the tavern-like restaurant, they were greeted with quite possibly the most beautiful man Ryoma had ever seen. Although, he seemed pretty damn familiar for a reason he just could not place, just like the girl.

“Elly, did you make new friends on your trip to the tailor?”

She laughed cheerfully. “Yeah! They were looking for a place to sleep so I invited them in!” 

The beautiful man simply hummed. “Well, I’m Marx, glad to make your acquaintance.”

Ryoma could not speak, he was so stunned by how beautiful this man was.

A younger boy, whom they had not noticed while walking in, looked up from his book. “You really need to stop being so trusting, Elly, remember what happened last time?”

Takumi had just opened his mouth to ask something when he saw the younger boy and was struck speechless.

“Hm? May I ask why you’re staring Miss... “ He trailed off.

“O-Oh, er, I’m Yumi. And you are…?” He said in that same soft voice.

It took every fiber of Ryoma’s self-control to not let him laugh. It took even more self-control for Hinoka to not laugh 

“Leon.” The pasty, tomato-looking boy stated gruffly. 

By ‘tomato-looking’, he had for some reason become extremely red. 

Ryoma seriously wanted to laugh and or tease his brother about his new admirer. Sakura simply giggled. “W-Well, l-looks like Y-Yumi has a c-crush, right?” she whispered to Hinoka with a smile on her face.

“Oh? Since when did we have guests?” A purple haired woman, who they assumed was Cameron. Hinoka could literally feel the blush creeping over her face, and quickly turned away trying to get her heart to stop pounding so damn fast.

“Ahem,” Marx cleared his throat, noticing the love-struck look the newcomers sported. “We should probably figure out your sleeping situation.”

Ryoma nodded, trying to get his emotions under control, “Um, yeah. We really appreciate this.”

Marx only nodded in acknowledgement. Elly smiled and grabbed Sakura’s hand. “Hey, you can sleep with me in my room!”

Sakura’s face was as pink as her hair. “Ah, um.. Okay!”

Now, it did not take a genius(coughcoughTAKUMISHUTTHEFUCKUPcoughcough) to figure out that each of the siblings now had a crush.

The sleeping arrangements were as follows:   
Sakura stayed in Elly’s room, they even shared a bed!  
Cameron, taking her sister’s lead, invited Hinoka to her room, where Hinoka was too embarrassed to sleep in the bed with her, so she stayed on the ground.   
Leon gave up his bed to the pretty lady, saying that he wasn’t planning on sleeping anyways.  
Marx only invited Ryoma into his room, he did not offer his bed, as he thought he may have had an eye on his sister. (Jokes on him)

Ryoma was, needless to say, a little disappointed, but he didn’t mind.

In the morning, Hinoka and Ryoma were a bit sore from sleeping on the ground, but they were otherwise okay. Takumi had asked Leon if he was sore from sleeping on the ground, but he just said he was fine(Takumi called bullshit).

Elly wanted to cook them breakfast, they wanted to leave, Cameron made sure that her little sister’s feelings weren't hurt by their actions. They stayed for breakfast. They honestly didn’t really mind...mostly.

While they were all eating, Cameron was trying to start a bit of a conversation before the travelers left. “So…” She trailed, trying to think of a subject. “Did you people go to the festival held at the capitol? It's very close by, we went!”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s a pretty big deal, and we normally go.” Hinoka responded, wanting to at LEAST have a normal conversation with this goddess of a woman.

“Oh, you say it as if you didn’t go this year.” Marx noted. 

This time, it was Sakura who responded, wanting to save her elder brother from embarrassing himself. “W-Well, sometimes things c-come up…” she said nervously.

Now Leon, who had been invested in his book the entire time thus far spoke up. “I don’t mean to pry, but what was it about?”, (definitely meaning to pry). 

Takumi was about to respond when he decided against it, because he did NOT want to pull a Ryoma and do something stupid. 

“It was a family matter…” Hinoka said quietly, answering in Takumi’s stead. It was, technically, the truth. 

Elly gasped. “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, sounding genuinely sorry.

“It’s okay.” Ryoma said, trying to lift the tension, but miserably failing. “We knew it would happen at one point or another.” 

Marx and Leon just kind of stared at him, which made poor Ryoma very uncomfortable.

“Okay then!” Cameron said excitedly, trying to change the subject. “Where are you guys from, I’ve never seen you folks around this city before!”

“W-Well, we a-are new h-here, b-but we were just p-passing through.” Sakura answered, both answering and avoiding the question at once.

Elly got really sad. “So we’ll never see you guys again?”

Sakura immediately shook her head. “W-Well, we might c-come back t-to this city...a-and then w-we’ll see e-each other?”

Elly still felt sad. “But you’re still going to be leaving… I’m gonna miss you Blossom!”

Takumi almost pulled a Ryoma and had to stop himself from asking who Blossom was.

Soon enough, the plates were cleared and the royal siblings had to leave, it was very emotional. Elly and Sakura were hugging each other, with Elly exclaiming that they better visit. 

“I-If we can!” Sakura said. It wasn’t a promise, and Elly seemed to pick up on that.  
oN THE OTHER HAND, Leon was asking Takumi about visiting soon, with Takumi completely unable to answer.

Ryoma stopped everything in its tracks. “We must get going, or else we’ll never get there in time…”. The other siblings took on a false somber look and their new friends got the message. 

Leon and Elly both looked extremely disappointed...as in, Elly was about to cry and Leon nearly stormed off. It was Marx though that put a sympathetic hand on Elly’s shoulder and Cameron who grabbed Leon’s collar. Takumi and Sakura both felt guilty for this, though Ryoma ushered them out the door quickly before something happened.

Soon enough, they were out roaming the town once more to find those criminals. 

“I-I hope Elly i-isn’t mad…” Sakura mumbled as they wandered the town searching for those criminal _dastards_.

“She seemed more sad to see you go than anything. But we have to focus on the task at hand right now. We can think about them later and we can visit them once this whole disaster is over.” Hinoka told her younger sister. 

Neither Takumi nor Ryoma said anything, though it was a bit obvious that they were distracted. 

“That means you too.” Ryoma and Takumi were violently brought back to reality. 

“I-I don’t know what you mean sister! I was thinking of...other things…” Takumi trailed off.

“Cut the bull, Yumi. Now c’mon… how are we going to figure out who they could possibly be…”

“Perhaps someone knows something? We could ask around,” Ryoma suggested, his mind refusing to quell its thoughts about Marx.

Takumi snapped his fingers. “Hey! I just remembered! There was a scrap of cloth that the culprit left at the castle!”

Ryoma rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Yes, because a scrap of cloth is so much information,” he said in a sarcastic manner.

“I have to agree with Ryoma…” Takumi said reluctantly. “It tells us two things- that they damaged their cloak and that said cloak is blue. That could apply to anyone!”

Sakura thought for a moment. “W-Well, maybe w-we could ask...never mind…” she stopped before she said anything more. 

“What is is, Blossom. Speak up, no idea is a bad idea right now...”

“W-Well...m-maybe we could a-ask Elly and t-the others if they k-know anyone with b-blue cloaks…?”

“No.” Takumi said bluntly. “We made such a huge show of leaving we can’t exactly go back.” Ryoma hit him upside the head. 

“Ow! Jeez...Well, you were the one to basically shove us out the door Ryouma!” he said angrily.

Hinoka was quiet for a moment. “Hey Yumi… can I see that cloth?”

Takumi sighed before handing Hinoka the cloth.

“This looks so familiar it’s as though….” a pause. A gasp. “I SAW THE SAME CLOTH AT A TAILOR WE PASSED!”

Ryoma stared at her in disbelief. “Wait, are you serious?!”

“I think so? I mean, I could be wrong but…. It’s a start?”

“Y-Yeah, it is! O-Okay Hitoka, l-lead t-the way then!” Sakura exclaimed, clapping her hands in delight.

Hinoka blushed. “I… don’t remember….” it was quiet. “Where it was… exact...ly…”

The other three siblings simply stared at her in disbelief.

“I didn’t think it’d be important!”

“Well, it is NOW!” Takumi said angrily.

“Hey! Settle down!” Ryoma barked. “We haven't been through too much of the city yet…. We might be able to retrace our steps or… something.”

“A-And h-how would t-that work R-Ryouma?” Sakura questioned nervously, a bit distressed about the situation.

“Uhhhhhhh” He trailed. “G back the way we came but this time pay attention?”

No one said anything after that, the only noise being Takumi face-palming.

“We have nothing else to do.” And do they did. 

Did they get horribly lost in the process? 

Find out next week on STOLEN HEARTS AND JEWELS!

….yes. Thanks to Ryoma. 

Takumi groaned. “We should have taken the right! I told you so!”

“No no no, that would have been even worse!” Ryoma fired back irritatedly.

“H-Hey guys...” Sakura tried to speak up, but was spoken over. 

Hinoka had to slap the two upside the head to get their attention.

“Um… E-Elly and her brother are over there…” Sakura pointed out. 

Both Takumi and Ryoma darted their eyes to see if it was true...and it was.

She and Marx were in a very serious conversation it seemed. The issue was what they were conversing about...and if they noticed the group that was only a few feet away.

They strained their ears to listen in, but it was so noisy on the street that they could only hear a bit. And even that bit was barely heard, only catching one out of every twenty words it seemed. 

“Double… left castle… opportunity.” is what they put together from Elly’s speech. 

It honestly made no sense...why would Elly be talking about castles and opportunities? 

What was a tad more concerning was what Ryoma had heard Marx say.

Ryoma was able to piece together, “Plan….steal...should work.”

They decided not to ask for directions after all. Rather, they left as soon as they could, heading for Hoshido. The bandits could wait for another time. There was something the four siblings had to discuss at home, in Hoshido.

When they finally arrived home in Hoshido, things were somber for some time. What they had heard was definitely weighing them all down.

“Do you really think…?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“That means…”

“It means that we have found our bandits.”

“N-No I think we means that we er…”

“...I still can’t believe it...but you just can’t deny it.”

They had made friend with their enemies, slept under their roof, were fed by them… and felt some sort of attraction to them. Just how cruel could fate be, to have them possibly develop feelings for their enemy?

“Well. We can figure all this out later. But our main priority is to…” Her throat was dry. “Catch them.”

Sakura wanted to say no, say that they couldn’t, but how could she, when they were bandits?

“Well, it’s not going to be hard to do.” Ryoma said. “I think they’re coming to us very soon.”

“Very well. We should…” There was a lump in Takumi’s throat that made speaking difficult. “We should prepare.”

They’ve been robbed enough to tell they have a pattern each heist. The siblings who weren’t Leon would all cause trouble at different places in the castle. Leon would be the one to actually go in for whatever their target was, though it would be when the the other three had gotten the four Hoshidan siblings away from where the target was. 

The only thing that made this difficult to protect against was that they did not know what exactly they wanted to steal. Other than that, they knew that they would be able to catch the bandits easily now. They also had no clue when they would strike, that was also a bit of an issue. Those were the only two issues to guard against, though they tried to make a guess as to what they were after and when they’d strike. 

Which was really difficult because there was no identifiable pattern to what they’ve taken. While the three eldest tried to discuss this, Sakura left the room under the guise of ‘needing some fresh air’. While she was away she ordered shit to be done idk you go. 

Sakura went to the training grounds, sitting down on one of the benches there that were meant for taking a break. 

She looked to the sky, there had to be some sort of pattern to what they’ve stolen… As she thought, her mind wandered back to Elly, the young girl who turned out to be one of the bandits they were after.

Sakura will admit it, she really, really likes Elly. A lot. Despite learning that she was a bandit, in fact one of the bandits who had stolen from them repeatedly, she would admit that she cared for her.

Sakura tried to shake the thought out of her head; She bonded with her for ONE night. She shouldn’t feel this way. 

Too bad her head decided to defy her at that moment, instead reminding her of how kind Elly was, despite the fact they had spent very little time together.

She didn’t know what her siblings were planning, but Sakura decided she would not let Elly get hurt!

So, she left the castle, in her disguise once more.

Meanwhile, the rest of the siblings were having a heated discussion on what it is they should do. 

“Damn it Ryoma, I already said that a trap like that wouldn’t work!” Takumi exclaimed for what felt like-and probably was-the twentieth time.

Ryoma threw his forehead onto the table they sat around. “I have no other ideasssssss.”

Hinoka sighed, frowning because at this rate they would be dead of old age before they came up with a decent idea.

After a moment of silence between the three of them, Ryoma’s head perked up. He was quickly shot down by Takumi. And by “quickly shot down”, Ryoma might as well have been shot down by one of Takumi’s arrows, it would have been slower.

Despite Ryoma being silenced, the other two become enlighted as to what he would’ve said. After a moment of this, Takumi looked around for a bit, seemingly looking for something.

“...Where’s my fuckin dress.”

“Takumi what the fuck? Why are you asking?” Hinoka said out of surprise, though Ryoma just stared.

“ I had a really bad idea that might actually fucking work.”

“So it’s a half-Ryoma. Alright, what is it?”

“They don’t know we’re… us, right? Meet up with them, in costume, and uh… convince them not to. Steal. I didn’t think too far ahead.” He said, with wavering confidence.

“Yeah I can see that…actually, where’s Sakura? By now she would have interrupted with an actually good idea,” Hinoka said.

They all stood together for a moment. 

“THEY STOLE OUR SISTER.”

Meanwhile, Sakura was already halfway to the town where they had met Elly, somewhat regretting not telling her siblings about what she was going to do.

Most of her regrets came with the fact it was now raining, hard. Sakura really wished that she had brought something to at least block the rain better.

She felt a sigh of relief with also a tinge of dread. There was what looked like a camp in sight! On the other hand, she had no idea who the camp actually belonged to, despite the sneaking suspicion mixed with dread she had.

She decided to roll the dice, maybe this camp wouldn’t be full of axe murders and instead full of nice people willing to give her shelter for the night!

...Okay, maybe she shouldn’t have thought of it that way, but it was better than getting soaked...kind of?

Getting soaked, and getting sick and dying and never seeing her family or Elly again and never having a child or never seeing her brother’ coro-. She stopped herself. Yep, she’d be taking her chances with the camp. Besides, she could always run away if anything went wrong!

She was practically running through the mud as the camp became close and closer to her. Unfortunately for her, she actually ended up tripping in said mud, pretty much faceplanting onto the ground.

She heard noises from the camp, words sounding like “Did you hear that?”.

She quickly stood up, doing her best to wipe away the mud.

“Help me!” Sakura called out, hoping her soft voice could be heard over the rain.

Luck appeared to be on her side, or maybe not, as her voice was heard over the pouring rain.

With mud in her eyes, she didn’t open her eyes to see who was coming, but she could tell someone was. 

She heard a gasp, and with a bit of dread and relief in her heart, she recognized the voice.

It was Cameron, Elly’s older sister, and from the sound of it, Cameron didn’t recognize her through all the mud. Sakura wasn’t sure if she should be relieved by that or not.

She escorted her inside the tent. 

Sakura could tell that no one recognized her through the mud, and without thinking, she said, “U-Um, it’s m-me, Blossom….”

The three of them gasped while the fourth asked who she was again. It’s fine, she didn’t remember either. Either way, Sakura continued to try wiping the mud out of her eyes, if only to be able to see better.

They were all bombarding her with questions, was she attacked, was she lost, did she need Cameron to go Fuck Someone Up(™), it was overwhelming Sakura. She did her best to answer the questions, managing to come up with, “U-Um, I got separated f-from m-my family...C-Can I s-stay with you f-for now? A-At least until the rain stops…”

“Oh, of COURSE, sweetie!” Cameron said, petting Sakura’s head, as Elly watched in disbelief. It was as though Elly couldn’t believe she was really here. Sakura smiled at her, kind of hoping that Elly would smile back, as she thanked them for allowing her to stay.

It had gotten darker and darker, and the rain,as well as the silence between Elly and her, persisted. She felt somewhat disheartened by the fact that Elly wasn’t trying to talk to her.

They, Leon, Elly, and herself, were put to bed, but while the other two snoozed, Sakura could hear Marx and Cameron talking on the other side of the tarp. Truthfully, while she wasn’t surprised that they were talking about her, she was surprised by how concerned they seemed to be as to how she was “separated from her family”.

Cameron was begging Marx to let postpone the “event” to find her family, but Marx persisted on, saying that they had only a short amount of time until “they” returned. Sakura already knew what they meant, though she was silently trying to figure out as to how they knew they had left the castle.

“As long as those ‘stand-in’s are in the family’s place, we have a shot at going to Queen Mikoto’s wedding necklace. If we wait any longer we’ll risk losing this opportunity. You know how much our family needs the money, Camilla.” Marx said in his stern voice. 

Sakura paled. On one hand, they were going to steal Mother’s wedding necklace, one of the few things they had left after she passed! But...they needed money badly enough that they were willing to risk getting caught stealing?

With troubled thoughts, Sakura didn’t get any sleep that night, even after Marx and Camer-Camilla? Stopped speaking to each other. Every time she did manage to fall asleep, some terrible nightmare managed to shake her awake, each of the different consequences.

Back at the castle, her siblings were preparing to go on an expedition to kick asses and get their little sister back. They were all ready to go when a sudden thought crossed Takumi’s mind, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“What if they’re using Sakura as a hostage? Or they kidnapped her SO we would leave the castle unguarded?”

Hinoka and Ryoma also stopped dead in their tracks, considering the possibility.

Hinoka spoke up after a moment. “I think Ryoma should stay behind, he can take twenty men at once, he could handle four.”

Ryoma frowned, but he ended up agreeing despite actually wanting to go kick ass.

Takumi and Hinoka then set out in their disguises to go and punch that “Big nosed-tall-and-hot-as-fuck Nohrian bastard and his siblings too I guess” in their big brother’s stead.

Back with the “Big-nosed-tall-and-hot-as-fuck Nohrian bastard and his equally hot family”, Sakura was still trying to figure out what to do.

The rain had let up overnight, and the five of them had hard, dry rations for breakfast. It was noticeably tense as they ate. Definitely different from the breakfast they had all eaten together.

“Blossom,” Marx said, breaking the silence. ”We’re going to help you find your family.” 

Sakura looked up in surprise, her eyes widening a bit. “Y-You are?”

As they nodded yes, Sakura could only think of the conversation last night. They were good people deep down…

Now all she had to do was make her siblings see that…but how? 

There was no doubt that her siblings were coming to find her, but it was all a matter of when. Sakura assumed she wouldn’t have much time, since her siblings were all HELLA overprotective-in fact, she was surprised she managed to sneak out in the first place.

She really had two options here: tell them the truth and definitely lose their trust, or lie until her siblings found her and undoubtedly overpower the unprepared four of them. Both were not good. They both just made her stomach churn with dread and a bit of fear.

It took all her resolve to do so, but she bit her tongue, she could convince her siblings they could be trusted, right? No, none of that second-guessing, she had to do it.

Meanwhile, with Hinoka and Takumi, every second they did not know where Sakura was, their fury and hatred towards the Nohrians grew. They thought they could be trusted, when they even kidnapped their youngest sister! 

They’d been walking for perhaps an hour, down the main road to the village they met them in, as it was their only hope of find those damn bandits. It was then Hinoka was caught off guard by a familiar voice, though it made her seethe with rage rather than tense with nervousness, as it had before.

Cameron was calling out to “Hitoka and Yumi”, they readied their concealed weapons to attack at any moment. What they hadn’t expected was Sakura calling out to them as well, appearing to be perfectly fine. 

They lost their will to fight when they saw her. Instead they ran to her as fast as they could, embracing her. Sakura let out a quiet “eep!” of surprise, but she managed to hug back as well, Cameron smiling brightly.

“We were worried sick about you!” Hinoka exclaimed, in complete honesty, tears starting to well up in her eyes. 

Takumi didn’t say anything, just hugging as tightly as he could because damn it he was NOT going to start crying right now!

“Aw how cute.” Leon said in his monotone but also disgusted voice.

At this, Takumi shot a dagger-filled glare at Leon just by hearing the tone in his voice.

“I-I’m fine!” Sakura exclaimed, trying to squirm out of their grasp. “They they took g-good care of of me!”

Hinoka glanced at Cameron, staring a bit before managing to say, “Thank you, for taking care of our baby sister.”

Cameron just smiled that same, almost fake-looking beam she always did. Hinoka wasn’t exactly sure how to feel, because there was a this cloud of confusion and she was going to figure out what the fuck happened.

Hinoka released from the embrace, now remembering that she was technically outnumbered by the enemy. She was ready to fuckin fight them if need be. 

She tugged on Takumi’s collar, a discreet but definite form of saying “We have to go.”

Sakura noticed this as well, but she managed to quickly step in and say, “U-Um, H-Hitoka, w-where’s Ryouma?”, making sure that Hinoka knew she was saying her FAKE name and not her real one.

“Uh. He went the OTHER way’” Hinoka said, glancing to Cameron and her siblings, hoping she sounded not lying. “He’s probably down by the capital at this point.”

“O-Oh, wow, he w-went that far?” Sakura said, already knowing what Hinoka had meant.

“He went running the moment he realized you got separeated,” Takumi said in as high a voice her could muster. “He thought you just got ahead of us, somehow.

Sakura gave a nervous smile, hoping that it didn’t look as nervous to Elly and her siblings. “R-Really?”

Marxed coughed. “Well, we so happened to be heading to the Capital as well… it would be unwise for three defenseless women to travel on their own,” Takumi coughed. “So, why don’t you three come with us?”

Sakura nodded, hoping that this would be her chance to show her siblings that they were truly good people.

Hinoka licked her lips. She didn’t really have a polite way to say no.”Sounds great.” She said, still suspicious.

Takumi really wanted to say no, though he forced himself to say, “That would be great!” just so he wouldn’t sound rude. Not that he really cared about sounding rude, it just might be suspicious-yeah that’s it.

The Nohrians told them that they had to pack up their tent before they went on, so the siblings used this time to talk while they were out of hearing range. 

“Blossom, what were you thinking?” Hinoka whispered, only using the fake name just in case the Nohrians heard them talking.

Sakura bowed her head in shame. “I-I…” she was at a loss for words. “I… They’re not bad people.” She said, tears welling in her eyes. 

Takumi sighed. “Well, it’s too late to say no now. We might as well just go with it.”

“Ladies!” Leon shouted before jogging up to them. “We see your brother just down the road.”

All three of them paled; god fucking damn it Ryoma, you had ONE job.

They hurried from their secluded speaking space, and as the red blur from down the road grew, so did the sound of his tell-tale battle cry. 

“...is there a reason that your brother is screaming like a mad man?” Leon said, his eyebrow raising as Sakura ran ahead in an attempt to appease the angry lobster.

Sakura was only able to stammer out an incomprehensible reply, before Ryoma was within speaking range, his speed never failing to be impressive. 

“Ryouma! Please, it’s alright! I’m fine!” Sakura said as quickly as she could, before Ryoma’s screaming started becoming recognizable. 

“YOU UTTER DASTARDS! HOW DARE YOU KIDNAP MY BABY SISTER! I KNEW YOU COULDN’T BE TRUSTED” He screeched. 

Leon looked taken aback. “Kidnap?! What in the world are you talking about?! And what is this about not trusting us - we helped your sister get out of the rain!”

Quite like the anger in his heart, his rage could not be quelled. “DON’T TRY TO PLAY INNOCENT! YOU KIDNAPPED HER, AS A HOSTAGE NO DOUBT!” He continued screaming, despite Takumi’s and Hinoka’s desperate attempts to get him to stop.

The Nohrian family, youngest and eldest alike, looked to the group in great surprise. 

Takumi elbowed Ryoma in the stomach, leading the latter to let out an “oof!” and the former to practically yell, “She is perfectly fine, you dumbbass!”

Cameron shook her head, taking a step forward, her impressive height only adding to her sweet yet threatening demeanor. “What was that about a hostage dear? Why would we take her hostage?”

Hinoka shot him a look that basically said “great going asshole!” before turning to (hopefully) explain the situation to Cameron.

But it was far too late. The group has already gathered together, staring at the four siblings with an equally intense but unreadable expression.

Hinoka cleared her throat. “Please understand that Ryouma here can get pretty stupid when under stress-” a noise of protest from the man in question “-and he can jump to some very wild conclusions. So when Blossom went missing…” 

“But why hostage specifically?” Leon inquired, a glint in his eye reminiscent of a cat fining a trapped mouse. “Why would Blossom, a poor traveler be of value as a hostage?” 

Takumi sweat. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time one of us has gone missing…” He mumbled, eyes darting towards Ryoma in a look of ‘god w h y’.

Ryoma, while having calmed considerably now that his siblings were behind him and he could protect them physically, had still yet to catch wind of what was going on. Hinoka wanted to smack him - while she and Takumi jumped to the same conclusion, they at least abandoned ship when they realized that Sakura was fine.

Ryoma took a step forward, emboldened, hand hovering above the handle of his sword, ready to draw at a breathe’s notice. Sakura actually had to walk towards him and move his hand away from his sword, hoping that that was a clear enough sign that everything was fine.

Hinoka grabbed the shoulder of her brother, panicking. “I'm SO! Sorry my brother is so dense and would even accuse you of such a thing it's just that, ah…” she trailed “We’re.. nobles, low ranking, but enough to get attention!” 

Takumi resisted the urge to facepalm as Sakura sighed; great cover story...not.

It seemed it finally clicked in Ryoma’s small, small brain. “For the Gods’ sake, don't tell them!” He hurriedly stage-whispered. 

Although Cameron and Leon were clearly suspicious, and Marx’s expression was unknown like stone, Elly seemed relieved for some reason.

Ryoma coughed and straightened his clothes. “Ahem. I guess I got ahead of myself.” He bowed deeply and turned on heel, grabbing the arms of his siblings. “Thank you for taking such good care of them, good bye!”

And off he ran like the goddamn wind, his poor siblings trailing behind him like leaves in the wind.

Camilla’s lips curled upward once they were far enough away. “I think our friends have been telling us quite the fib. Nonetheless,” she turned to Xander, eyes sparkling, “I think we can use them.” 

Once they were far enough that the camp was out of site, Ryoma slowed down enough that his siblings were able to be set freeee.

“HOLY MOLDY ONIONS YOU FLOPPY!! ARGH!!!” Takumi screeched, attracting the attention of any bystanders, if there were any in the empty stretch of road. 

Although Sakura was not one for anger...she too had to make the exception. “You...B-Brother, you a-are an absolute moron.”

All siblings were startled by their sister's miniature outburst but not enough to startle to silence. There was still the matter of Takumi’s angry ranting and Hinoka getting her arm ready to punch Ryoma for his stupidity.

“WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE CASTLE!” Takumi started, anger still broiling and bubbling to his words. 

“I WAS WORRIED YOU PINEAPPLELY ASSHOLE” Ryoma retorted.

Hinoka puller her punch and loudly sighed. “Well, at least we now know the general location of the thieves and let's get back to plan B. Let's hope we can get a good enough amount of guards to prevent the theft of.. whatever it was they're aiming to take.” 

Sakura paused; she knew what the thieves (she didn’t want to say them by name) were after...and yet she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

Takumi slowed downs as the tone of the group deescalated. “Let's get to the castle as soon as we can.”

Hinoka and Sakura nodded, Ryoma waiting a moment before he nodded as well. The four made their way to the castle, dragging their feet. The knew of no shortcuts, so as long as the band of thieves didn't catch up, they were safe on time. However, the longer they took, the longer they had to deal with their conflicting thoughts.

Sakura thought of Elly, the sweet youngest sister of the group. She couldn't bring herself to imagine that she would want to hurt her? But there was no possibility of being able to settle things over with them, not without having to catch them or continue to lie to them like the already lying liars they were.God, fuck, damn it, why did things have to be this way. Fucking hell, thanks a lot Ryoma, you just had to fuck it all up. Fuck. 

Takumi, meanwhile, had no particular strong feelings. Nope, not at all, nothing about how stupid Ryoma had been or how awful Hinoka’s cover up story was or even about how hot Leon was _wait what was that last one_. Nooope, he just wanted to nab these crooks and, I don't know, lock them in the dungeon? Banish them? He didn't even care enough to consider their punishment, see how nonchalant he is about this! He totally dID NOT CARE ALL THAT MUCH ABOUT IT, SEE HOW CALM HE’S BEING HINOKA??

Hinoka was as cool and calm and composed as she always was on the outside. Sure, there might be a part of her that was screaming internally about the situation, but that could be ignored right???

Ryoma was embarrassed. Just a bit. Just a smidgin. Just an eensy teensy bit and absolutely none of it had to do with how stupid he might have been in front of Marx, that tall and dashingly handsome _dastard_.

The quarter trudged their way back to the castle, having surprisingly little trouble on their way. It might have been because everyone was too busy fighting themselves internally to argue with one another, but that isn’t the point ehre.

They went their separate ways to clean themselves and or ready for battle. Tonight, was going to be lively. Tonight was the night of their lives, where they would be waintg to catch the thieves in the act. Or just sit around, waiting for them to act another day. Both worked, though if he were to be honest Ryoma preferred the first option because then at least he wouldn’t have to agonize over stupid sexy Marx anymore.

The noon turned to evening, and evening to night, to an early dawn. No sign of the thieves. No sign of stupid sexy Marx (Ryoma’s thoughts), that goddess from hell Cameron (Hinoka’s), Nohrian dastard (Takumi’s), or even sweet Elly (Sakura’s).

But by the dusk of the same day, it was time. The siblings appeared in their typical pattern. And, like absolute idiots, almost all four of them fell for it yet again.

But Sakura broke the habit. She dashed to her mother’s memorial room as quickly as she could upon finding the thieves had breached the castle walls. She ran, heart pounding as she snatched her mother’s wedding necklace from its hiding place and hid it, running out as soon as she had. She ducked into the nearest hiding place she could. As predicted, Leon went running past her towards the memorial room. It seemed that he hadn’t noticed her presence. 

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief, but it was quite short-lived. Leon came back rather quickly - far too quickly, he must have known that she took the necklace already.

But from the muffled sounds and sight she saw she gather that he did not. He produced a small- e gads! A toem?- from his satchel. Sakura watched with a pounding heart and held breath as she watched him use it - but for waht? She had to move, but from where she was hiding (behind one of the massive hall doors), there was no way for her to be able to move without Leon spotting her.

With a small hand movement, a spell was cast and he began to speak. “Camilla, it seems they've moved the necklace” 

“I see...that’s troublesome. There’s no point in continuing our mission when we have no idea as to where it is. Regroup outside the gates.” Sakura was shocked to hear her voice coming through the tome loud and clear.

The lights died down and the fading littering of footsteps allowed her the courage to step out. She only just barely peeked out, enough to make sure that Leon had left completely before running as quietly as she could...away from the gates. 

She failed to notice the specific pair of footsteps behind her though, and in the next moment a small pair of arms were wrapped around her, trying to cover her mouth with some sort of gag. Of course she struggled, though to even her own surprise, she did not scream; instead, she bit down on the hand that was attempting to cover her mouth.

“Ow!” A high pitched voice lightly shrieked. “C'mon, Princess, I'm not going to hurt you but you have to come with me!” Sakura realized with horror who the owner of the voice was. 

Oh gods. Oh fucking gods she just bit Elly’s hand, what the absolute FUCK. 

“Unhand her!” An equally familiar voice yelled, Hinoka’s. 

Sakura paled, gods how - only for her to be interrupted by Elly practically dragging her away from her sister. 

Elly pulled out a sword, thin and graceful like its wielder. She pointed it towards Hinoka, her free arm wrapped tight around Sakura (in any other situation her heart probably would have skipped a few beats).

“Hand over the necklace! This is our, Uh, hostage!” Elly… threatened? She was obviously unused to confrontation. 

Oh, the fucking IRONY. 

Sakura’s brain was short circuiting, so she did the only semi-rational thing she could in this situation. 

“What necklace?”

Elly looked to her, in complete and utter confusion. They locked eyes for a crucial moment. Sakura felt herself go pale under Elly’s questioning gaze. Then, “What do you mean “what necklace”?”

“The only, ah… the only jewels I s-see are. You're eyes. You're, b-beautiful.” Skaurra stammered, a half truth and half dodging the question. 

Hinoka’s jaw dropped to the fucking floor as Elly’s face started turning as pink as Sakura’s hair.

Sakura met their faces together, and in that moment, the adrenaline kicked into Hinoka. 

“Fuckin hell Sakura,” she muttered as she bolted….away from them, because she was not ready for this today. 

The two little sisters pulled away for but a moment, in their own bubble. They locked eyes again, and a flash of recognition was evident across Elly’s face.

“...Blossom?” Elly half-asks, eyes wide as Sakura shyly nodded. 

They continued to distract each other while the rest of the siblings actually battled. And by “distract”, they just threw compliments at each other and got flustered as fuckkkkkk. 

The rest of the siblings congregated in front of the gate, for perhaps an epic showdown. Or they would have if they realized that their lil sisters were nowhere to be found.

The eldest brothers stood forward, to defend the rest of their siblings. “Give us that which we desire!” Yelled Leon. 

“We don’t even know what you assholes want, so we couldn’t give it to you anyway!!” Takumi shot back, ignoring the fluttering in his heart for Leon-samaaadAMN IT STOP.

“The Heart of Hoshido is what we wish to claim!” Purées Cameron, with a pointed look towards the red headed sister. 

“Psst, what the fuck is the Heart of Hoshido?” Ryoma whispered to Takumi, who promptly facepalmed for the 284384th time. 

“That's the artisan title of Mothers Engagement necklace you dumbass!” He   
hissed back. 

Hinoka internally cursed; why the fuck did her elder brother have to be so STUPID.

“Do… do you not even know what that is?” Marx Questioned.

Hinoka spoke up before this could become a yelling match “I think we have much more pressing matter to speak about,” when all eyes were on her she continued “Our little sister's are snogging in the halls.” 

“thEY’RE WH AT” Literally Everyone screamed. And they ran to see if it was true. And it was. 

Sakura and Elise had moved to sit down, they had caught them at a moment they were sharing their feelings in between their gentle kisses.

Of course it was Ryoma’s dumbass who had to ruin the moment.

Ryoma shoved himself between the two girls.

“How dare you taint my sister! Her purity before marriage” he sobbed, pushing Elise away and hugging Sakura as close as he could without absorbing her. The two were still awkwardly holding hands despite the unwilling separation.

“B-But brother!” Sakura thought quickly before making what was possibly Ryoma-levels of stupid. “We are getting married! I, uh, I just borrowed Mother’s necklace to propose!”

The rest of the now siblings-in-law were stunned speechless, except for Camilla, who was stunned beyond speechless. Leo was the first to break the silence.

“yOU HAD THE NECKLACE?????” 

Elise jauntily held it, which was now dangling from her neck. “I'm the owner now!” 

Sakura nervously laughed. “It is! Because I proposed to you with it!” 

The two girls giggled to themselves. The rest of the siblings talked among themselves. Was this… was this allowed?

Hinoka looked to Camilla - well if Sakura had the courage to propose…

She knelt in the traditional Nohrian manner- she did study etiquette before becoming a warrior much to contrary belief- and presented Camilla with her weapon. “How, about we ah, Samesies?”

Camilla stared at her for a moment - enough to look her directly in the eyes as Hinoka began to blush - and swept her off her feet, dipped her low and ki s s ed her.

In the following weeks in a turn of events that shocked most of the country, a grand double wedding was held for the princesses of Hoshido and some unidentified people? Whatever, the hoshidan people could always find a reason to hold festivals. They fuckin loved parties...even if it wasn’t as much as the Izumo peopel. That duke knew how to throw a bangin party.

And so they did. A honeymoon and a life’s worth of stories to tell to their children and children’s children and children’s children’s children, the lovebirds found a happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats for making it all the way through.
> 
> Plz comment and tell us what you think were dying to hear.


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